Research in Motion, Garmin Could Jump on Bullish Notes

JP Morgan is positive on Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) following investor meetings at RIMM's headquarters in Waterloo on January 9th.

The firm notes they detected nothing in the story that might justify the stock’s recent trade-off. RIMM is a company in growth mode. The co-CEOs separately commented on their sense that the smartphone market is growing faster than the company can grow into it.

A radio station in Canada reported that the 9000 device will be introduced in May. Management would not comment directly regarding this particular device, however, the discussions suggest 2008 will be another year of innovation.

The company continues to add new carrier channels (currently over 300). However, though press announcements are issued in the local markets, the company has given up on issuing US press releases, simply owing to the volume of activity.

JPM believes RIMM is having particular success with its UMA capabilities sold through T-Mobile. Regarding AT&T, RIMM believes their wireless business will not be affected by cyclicality; the valueadd for enterprise users is just too strong. We sense that management attention has turned to expanding RIMM’s presence in the European retail market, heading into 2008.

Reiterates Overweight as the RIMM growth story remains intact.

Notablecalls: I would watch RIMM today for a continued bounce. Also, check out Garmin (NASDAQ:GRMN) as it's been upgraded at Morgan Stanley. Mother Morgan has been negative on GRMN for a while now. Firm is upping their rating to Equal Weight (from UW) saying they wouldn't sell the stock short here.

Also, JMP is out positive on GRMN, reiterating Outperform and $140 target, saying Q4 will be strong. But that's something we know already, don't we?

Anyway, watch'em both.